Coffee, sometime?
by notimetowaste
Summary: Thad has a crush on Rachel, so Trent pushes him to go talk to her. Set just after the Silly Love Songs performance by The Warblers.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is just something that I thought up after watching the Silly Love Songs performance again. I kind of ship Rachel with any Warbler, Thad just seemed to fit in well with this story. _

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><p>Thad never imagined himself to be the kind of guy that would be nervous about talking to a girl. But, as Thad reminded himself, this wasn't just any girl, this was Rachel Berry. Thad had been taken by Rachel Berry the second he watched her perform alongside her Glee club, and his rivals, New Directions. That rivalry didn't stop Thad from wanting her however; in fact, it kind of made him want her more. He casually grilled Kurt for information on his crush every now and again – he didn't want to seem too eager and give his secret crush away to his fellow Warblers. He'd seen what they'd done to Blaine when it became apparent he liked Kurt in a more-than-just-friends way, and wasn't particularly keen for the same to happen to him.<p>

Unfortunately, Thad was now stood in front of a smiling Rachel as he prepared to sing with the Warblers in Breadstix. Kurt had mentioned something about a 'lonely hearts dinner' and dragged his club to perform an impromptu concert for the half-filled restaurant. The song itself went well. Thad made sure to keep well away from Rachel in fear of embarrassing himself, and his fellow Glee members, by getting down on his knees and serenading her.

"You know, you'd think that there'd be more than just one reasonably-priced restaurant in Lima," Trent commented, scanning over the less-than-inspiring menu once their performance was over. Thad merely mumbled in response, trying his hardest to keep his eyes on the menu and not allowing them to creep across to his left where Rachel was sitting with her friends.

"Dear Lord, Thad!" Trent exclaimed, not bothering to keep his voice down, "if you like her that much, just talk to her!"

Thad flushed at both Trent's words and the stares that the two friends were being sent from both members of New Directions and their fellow Warblers.

"Not cool, man. Not cool at all," Thad moaned, covering his face with his menu.

"I'm just saying!" Trent protested. "Just because you've tried to be sneaky about your crush doesn't mean that it's gone unnoticed."

"What?" Thad hissed at his friend's words, his eyes widening at the thought that someone other than himself knew about his opinions on Rachel Berry. "Tell me you're kidding!"

Trent looked around to make sure no-one else was listening, and then leaned closer towards Thad. "Jeff and Nick even have a betting pool on. My bet has been placed on tonight. I have twenty dollars on this, so you ask her out and I'll pay for dinner, okay?"

That was all it took for Thad to choke on the water he had previously been sipping. His normal composure was all but lost as he coughed and spluttered, gaining far more attention than he really wanted at that time.

"I'm fine!" he declared a couple of minutes later, sending out smiles to the people that were still staring at him. He allowed his eyes to roam across to where Rachel was sitting, and found himself making eye contact with the pretty brunette. She flashed him a dazzling smile, which he easily returned, before snapping his head back to the table in front of him, ignoring Trent's unconcealed sniggers.

Thad and Trent had just finished eating when Rachel and her friends rose from their table and began to exit the restaurant. Thad felt a ball of panic beginning to form in his stomach; he couldn't let Rachel get away again, not before he spoke to her. Trent gave Thad a sharp kick from under the table and nodded in the direction of the exit. "Go!" he hissed. Thad nodded at his friend and rose from the table, grabbing his jacket and umbrella in the process. He quickly hurried out of the door, pausing when he realised he didn't know whereabouts Rachel had gone. He shrugged and instinctively turned left, quickly opening his umbrella when he felt the cold Ohio rain hit him.

He carried on walking down the street, thinking that he must have chosen the wrong direction when he spotted a flash of yellow up ahead. He hurried his pace, practically breaking into a jog when he noticed Rachel fighting with her own umbrella.

"Here, allow me," he spoke, covering Rachel with his umbrella. She turned around, startled that someone had even bothered to notice her. Her shock became even more evident when she realised that this wasn't just anybody, it was a Warbler. Her competition. Attractive competition, but competition nonetheless.

"Thanks," she smiled, trying her hardest to remain polite yet distant. She couldn't fall for a Warbler, no matter how nice his manners were, or how handsome he looked as he smiled at her.

Now that Thad finally had Rachel alone, he didn't have a clue what to say to her. All the scenarios that he had planned previously decided to vanish from his brain, and so he stood, utterly clueless, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Rachel giggled at the boy in front of her, a sound that seemed to bring him to his senses. He flashed an apologetic grin at her before taking a deep breath.

"The thing is, Miss Rachel Berry, is that you have managed to capture my attention the minute you walked out onto the stage at Sectionals-"

"But I didn't even have a solo!" Rachel protested, looking like she was about to go onto a long rant about how unfair it was that Quinn and Santana had been chosen over her.

"Then doesn't that say something? You caught my eye without being in the spotlight, and that's something only a true star can do," Thad smiled at the look on Rachel's face, she really was beautiful when she smiled, he thought to himself before continuing. "And I don't know what it is about you that has done that, but I would really like to find out. You deserve so much, Rachel. I know you probably think that I'm strange and weird for chasing after you on the street, but I guess I just had to talk to you. So, uh, I what I'm trying to say is, would you like to go get coffee sometime?"

The look on Rachel's face filled Thad with dread. She was going to say no, he just knew it. Trent would never let him live it down.

"You're competition!" she spluttered. Secretly, she was flattered that Thad had asked her. She'd harboured a slight crush for the Warbler ever since Kurt had showed her his Facebook profile when he was filling in Rachel and Mercedes on all his new friends at Dalton. Never in her wildest dreams did Rachel imagine Thad being interested in her. She knew that if she said no now, she'd probably never get this opportunity again. Besides, it wasn't like he'd just asked her to give up her Broadway dreams for him, it was just coffee. And if Finn could move on, so could Rachel Berry.

"I guess, if you promise to not try and gleam any information on our upcoming Regionals performance, we could get coffee."

Thad tried extremely hard to restrain himself from dancing in the middle of the sidewalk at Rachel's answer, although he did allow his face to break out into an incredibly cheesy grin.

"I promise to not talk about Regionals at all. Now, where are you heading?" he questioned.

"Oh, my car's just over there," Rachel pointed at a shiny vehicle not too far away from where the pair stood. Thad nodded and offered his arm to Rachel. Shocked at his action, she took it anyway, and allowed him to guide her to her car. They stopped just by the driver's door, Rachel digging around in her purse for a pen and paper to write her number on. Once she had done so, she unlocked the car and Thad swooped forward to open the door for her, shooting her a charming smile as he did so.

"Thank you, Thad," Thad blinked at the mention of his name – how could she know who he was? He watched her drive off before jogging back to Breadstix, barely able to contain his excitement as he met up with Trent at the door.

"Well?" Trent demanded with his hands on his hips. Thad just grinned and showed him the piece of paper with Rachel's number on it. Trent whooped, clapping his friend on the shoulder and demanding payment from Jeff and Nick, who, despite running the betting pool, was happy for their friend.

Later that night, when they had all returned to Dalton, Thad stared at the paper in front of him, debating on whether or not to text Rachel. Finally, his courage got the best of him and he quickly tapped a message out, grinning when he received an enthusiastic response in reply. Truth be told, Thad much preferred tea over coffee, but if meeting with Rachel meant he had to drink gallons of the stuff, he would do so most happily.


	2. Chapter 2

Sharing a room with Trent had both its advantages and disadvantages. This was something Thad had quickly learned, and had also come to accept. However, as Thad stood in front of the mirror in their shared en-suite bathroom trying to style his hair before he left to meet Rachel for coffee, he wished he could've been given a less fashion conscious roommate. No matter what Thad did with his hair, Trent disregarded it with a frustrated sigh, demanding Thad restyled it.

"Trent, this is getting ridiculous!" Thad whined, his fingers sticky with both hair gel and hair spray. His friend merely raised an eyebrow in response, examining Thad's hair with his critical eyes.

"Well, lucky for you, this is the best your hair's going to get today! Now go, before you're late for your coffee!" Trent was practically shoving Thad out of their room. "Have fun!"

Thad groaned, before shrugging on his overcoat and headed out the door towards the Lima Bean coffee shop, hoping he wouldn't be late.

Rachel pushed the door of the Lima Bean open and bounced into the building, scanning the room for any sign of Thad. She frowned slightly when she didn't spot him at any of the tables, but accepted the fact that just because she liked to be at a destination five minutes before the pre-arranged time didn't mean that everybody else did. In fact, she thought as she joined the short line for coffee, when she was with Finn, she was lucky if he arrived only five minutes later than they had arranged.

"You're early," a male voice commented in her ear as he slid next to her.

"Thad!" Rachel exclaimed, happy to see that he had showed, "you're early too!" Thad merely grinned in response, wrapping his arm around Rachel's shoulders as they waited their turn. Rachel smiled inwardly at the gesture, the more she had gotten to know Thad in the past few days, the more she had really began to like him. It was clear that he liked her; he'd made that known to Rachel right from the very start. Even just the thought of someone like Thad liking her in that way made Rachel giddy; she didn't dare imagine what anything else would feel like.

Five minutes later, Rachel and Thad were sitting at a table with their coffees, which Thad had insisted on paying for. Rachel had protested, yet Thad had won the argument, paying for the coffees and leading Rachel away from the Barista. Rachel was inwardly impressed; the last guy to get a drink for her was when Puck brought her that slushie during their short-lived relationship. And even then, he'd only known what her favourite flavour was due to the fact he'd thrown so many of the frozen beverages at her.

"You know, not many people have won an argument against me, Thad," Rachel commented.

"Well, what kind of aspiring lawyer can't win an argument?" Thad grinned. He kept playing with the coffee cup between his hands in order to give them something to do; he was trying his hardest to not appear nervous on the outside, something that was obviously linked to being around Rachel. He hoped she wouldn't notice.

"Oh, you want to be a lawyer? What college are you going to go to? I plan on attending NYADA, before I go on to conquer Broadway and win a Tony award by the age of 25!" Rachel gushed, a steely determination in her eye as she carried on talking about all her future dreams. Thad simply kept quiet, nodding in what he hoped would be the correct places as Rachel chattered away, before she dove into her purse and withdrew a pink notebook covered in gold stars.

"You see, I've even planned exactly how my dorm room will be at NYADA. Of course, I'll only be living in a dorm for a little while; I'll eventually just get an apartment with some fellow future stars!" Rachel smiled, showing Thad the room plans she had meticulously created, right down to the exact light bulb that would go into her bedside lamp.

"This is um, very impressive, for someone our age, Rachel. Not many people would be this organised," himself included, Thad thought, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, no," Rachel conceded, "but not many people have chosen their college by the time they were six."

Rachel was certainly ambitious; Thad had to give her that.

"Anyway, that's enough about me! Tell me about yourself!" Rachel exclaimed, flashing Thad another one of her dazzling smiles. Thad flushed, a little unsure what he should say.

"Well, I'm a junior, like you and Kurt," he began, glancing up at Rachel, who was staring at him intently, waiting for him to continue on. "My Dad owns a law firm, and I guess that's where my want to be a lawyer came from. I have two younger twin sisters; they go to the Crawford girl's school. What else do you want to know?"

"Oh, you know," Rachel waved a hand in the air between them. "Anything and everything. But I guess that'll come with time, I mean, you can't expect to learn everything about one person in just one day, can you?"

Thad smiled at the thought of Rachel wanting to know everything about him, he most certainly wanted to know everything about her.

"Well, if it isn't my hot little Jewish-American princess," Rachel turned to her right, shocked to see Noah Puckerman stood next to her, coffee cup in hand and a smirk on his face. Thad swallowed, unsure of what to make of the footballer in front of him. Kurt hadn't mention much about the guy, and what he had said was very neutral.

"Hello, Noah," Rachel replied, hoping his visit would save her humiliation in front of Thad.

"Who's this?" Puck simply nodded his head towards the Warbler, who was trying his best to remain invisible.

"This is Thad. He's from Dalton, he performed with Kurt at Breadstix on Valentine's, remember?" Rachel turned back to Thad, sending him a reassuring smile (which made him feel a tiny bit better), before continuing with her introductions. "Thad, this is Noah, he's a member of New Directions. He's very talented when he puts his mind to it!"

"Nice to meet you," Thad finished, but didn't bother offering his hand out to shake; he doubted the other guy would take it.

"You got a pool at your house, Thad?" Puck questioned. Thad was slightly taken aback at the question, why on earth would he care if Thad had a pool at his house?

"No, we don't, sorry," Thad replied, hoping this was the correct response.

"Then we're cool, man. Just take care of Rachel, okay? One word that you've made her cry and I won't be afraid to break that nose of yours." With that, Puck clapped Thad on the shoulder and strolled out of the coffee shop as if nothing had happened. Thad turned back to Rachel, feeling a little shell-shocked at what had just happened, only to find her with her head buried in her hands.

"Rachel?" he questioned, leaning over and placing a gentle hand on her jumper-clad shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Rachel allowed an eye to peek through her hands. "I'm so, so sorry about him Thad! He's just trying to embarrass me by attempting to intimidate you! If you want to go, I understand, I won't hold it against you, I promise!"

Thad almost laughed at the thought of Noah Puckerman scaring him off of Rachel. If she thought her friends were embarrassing, wait until she met his.

"Rachel, it's fine," Thad tried to prise Rachel's hands away from her face, but it wasn't working. "I promise I'm not going anywhere. It'll take more than someone threatening to break my nose to get me to go. I like you too much."

Rachel slowly brought her hands away from her face, which was still tinged pink from where she'd been blushing at Noah's words. She blinked, staring at Thad's handsome face as she tried to process his final sentence.

"Really?" she whispered, almost disbelieving the Warbler in front of her. She'd fallen for boys' lies in the past, look at what happened with Jesse and with Finn, but something about Thad seemed genuine and honest. Rachel decided that she liked that quality about Thad.

"Really." Thad smiled, reaching forward and squeezing Rachel's hand.

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><p><em>AN: Sorry about the wait guys, but thank you so much for all your kind words on the first chapter! I only ever planned for it to be a one shot, but now I've got ideas for a whole story to be created now! So thanks again! _


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel had barely had time to take off her jacket after getting in from the Lima Bean before her cell phone was blasting out 'Defying Gravity'. Rachel knew from the ringtone that it was Kurt, wanting to know how her outing with Thad went.

"Tell me everything! Spare me no details, Berry!" Rachel grinned at Kurt's demanding tone as she kicked off her shoes and headed for her bedroom.

"There's not really much to tell, Kurt," she stated, collapsing on her comfortable bed.

"Nonsense! Trent's grilling Thad as we speak, I'll know all the details soon enough. Did he pay?" Rachel giggled at her friend, she could easily imagine him pacing around his Dalton common room as he spoke on the phone with her, no doubt Blaine was somewhere close by, watching Kurt adoringly.

"Yes, Kurt, he did. It was a very gentlemanly thing of him to do, although from what I've seen, Thad is nothing but a gentleman!" Rachel tried to restrain herself from gushing as she spoke to Kurt, she did really like Thad.

"Look, between me and Kurt, we will know every single thing that happened on your little coffee jaunt, so don't spare me the details, Hardwood," Thad sighed, trying to ignore Trent as he attempted to drill information out of Thad about the few hours he'd spent with Rachel.

"As much as I'd love to sit and analyse the past three hours with you Trent, I have a French paper to write, thanks to Nick and his obsession with Madame Benoit," the aforementioned Warbler just so happened to be passing Thad and Trent's dorm and overheard the comment, and decided to enter the room as well.

"I am not obsessed with her!" Nick protested. "Anyway, how's Rachel?" He quickly ducked as his fellow Warbler launched a biology textbook at him, and decided to join Trent in pumping information out of Thad.

"I must say, I'm very impressed Rachel. Puckerman shows up and the guy didn't run away," Kurt sang, grinning from ear to ear at the thought of one of his best friends and a fellow Warbler getting together. Someone like Thad would be good for Rachel, he thought, he would halt her overbearing-ness, and her ambition and drive could possibly influence Thad to push himself harder than ever before. From what Kurt had learnt about Thad, he had a bad habit of merely coasting through everything from classes to Warbler practice, even though he was a member of the Warbler council.

"Don't even mention Noah's name to me, Hummel!" Rachel hissed, collapsing onto her bed. "I could've died when he started talking! He even asked Thad if he had a pool at his house! How ridiculous is he?"

"Does he?" Kurt questioned, trying his hardest to ignore Blaine as he danced in front of Kurt.

"No, he doesn't. Thankfully, Thad never asked why Noah wanted to know. How would I have explained that?" Rachel questioned, reminding herself to have a serious word with the boy when she saw him in school the following day. "He used that ridiculous nickname too." Rachel frowned upon hearing her friend's peals of laughter echo from her phone; Kurt was supposed to be sympathising with her!

"Did you know that Rachel was Jewish?" Thad asked, not looking up from where he was furiously scribbling down his French homework. He knew that he wasn't going to get out of Trent's interrogation session, especially now that Nick had decided to join in, so he figured he might as well discuss his outing with Rachel.

"With a nose like hers, I'm not surprised," Trent commented, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Nick and a glare from Thad. "What? I happen to like Rachel Berry's nose. Anyway, how did you find that out? Does she proclaim it to everyone she meets?"

Thad shook his head at his friend's comment, still trying to work on his French. "Her friend turned up. Noah Puckerman. He called her his, and I swear I'm not lying, 'hot little Jewish-American princess'." Thad had barely finished his sentence before Trent and Nick burst into hysterical laughter. Admittedly the nickname was funny; however mortified Rachel may have been by it. Thad allowed himself a small chuckle before returning his focus back onto his homework.

"So," Kurt said, his laughter subsided. "Is there going to be a next time?"

Rachel smiled; she and Thad had already arranged to meet up for another coffee at the end of the week. "Yes, Kurt," she replied. "There is. I really like Thad. There's just something so genuine about him. He's not like Finn, or Noah, or Jesse. He seems to be a true gentleman."

"Dalton trains their boys well," Kurt stated, earning a funny look from Blaine. "Trust me, Rachel; Thad isn't like those idiots that you dated. I know Finn is my stepbrother, but he's seriously one of the biggest imbeciles I think I've ever met. And don't even get me started on those other morons. Thad will be good for you, Rachel, and you will be good for Thad."

"You make this sound like we're in a serious relationship, Kurt," Rachel pointed out. She couldn't stop herself from smiling at the thought of her and Thad getting together though. However, she didn't want to go in with all guns blazing and come out the loser, again.

"Well, it's only a matter of time!" Kurt exclaimed. "Besides, if Trent has anything to do with it, you will be in a serious relationship by the end of the year. He's currently drilling information about your date from Thad, he wants to meet up with me later and compare all that we've found out."

"Kurt!" Rachel shrieked, shooting up into a seated position on her bed. "You cannot tell him anything! I forbid it, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel!"

"So, when are you planning on meeting up with the lovely Ms Berry again?" Trent questioned.

"At the end of the week," Thad muttered, throwing his pen down onto his desk and grinning at his completed assignment.

"At the Lima Bean?"

"At the Lima Bean," Thad confirmed, packing his equipment away.

"You should surprise her," Nick commented. "Take her some flowers or something."

"Do you think?" Thad asked, glancing over at his friend. Both Nick and Trent nodded, before breaking out into an argument over what flowers Thad should take Rachel.

"She likes roses," the three spun towards the door at the sound of Kurt's voice, Trent and Nick silenced at once. "I'd suggest the ones that are both red and yellow; I think those are her favourites. But don't just take her flowers. Do something else too."

"Like what?" Thad asked, noting down the flowers that Kurt had suggested, along with a reminder to order a bunch at the florists before Friday.

"I don't know," Kurt shrugged, entering the room and sitting on Thad's bed. Thad nodded, and the four sat in silence for a little while, until an idea hit Thad. Grinning, he jotted that down too. It wasn't much, but it would be something. Thad looked up at Kurt, who was tapping away on his phone, suddenly reminded of a question that he meant to ask Rachel, but had forgotten to earlier.

"Hey, Kurt, why would Puckerman care if I had a swimming pool at my house?"


	4. Chapter 4

Friday couldn't have rolled around fast enough for Rachel. Aside from her coffee afternoon with Thad, the school week had been less than spectacular, and had made Rachel even more eager for Friday afternoon to arrive. She even (secretly) wanted Glee practice to go by quickly so she could get to the Lima Bean, and Thad's company, faster. The club were busy attempting to write their own original songs for regionals, her fellow members finally agreeing that Rachel had come up with an excellent idea. Coming up with the idea was the easy part, writing a song was a much more difficult task, as Rachel soon found out. The only one who seemed to be having any real success was Noah, much to Rachel's surprise. Rachel still had a blank sheet of paper in front of her, she was much less inspired than she thought she would be. She had tried explaining this predicament to both Kurt and Thad without revealing what exactly it was that she was doing, yet neither of them had been able to offer her any solution to her problem.

"Okay guys! That's enough work for today, keep trying over the weekend! You never know when inspiration may hit you!" Rachel rolled her eyes at her teacher's words. She knew he was trying to be encouraging, but it wasn't helping at all. Rachel followed everyone out of the practice room, before hurrying back to her locker to collect everything she would need for the weekend ahead.

Just as she was pulling on her coat, she noticed someone walking towards her. She decided to ignore them, and prayed that they didn't have a slushie in their hands. She had managed to avoid one all week, and just hoped that fate wouldn't be cruel enough to have one thrown at her now.

"You know, I never realised that McKinley would be so small. I mean, I know it's a public school, but compared to Dalton, this is tiny!" Rachel shot her head up at the sound of Thad's voice, her face breaking out into an uncontrollable smile. She almost threw her arms around him but stopped short when she saw the bunch of roses in his hands. They were the yellow and red mix, her favourite one of all. Thad grinned at her, before handing her the flowers.

"These are for you," he stated, almost shyly. Rachel accepted the bouquet gracefully, lifting them up to smell their sweet scent.

"They're beautiful, Thad. Thank you, so much. How did you know that these were my favourite?" Rachel questioned, unable to wipe the grin off her face, even more so when Thad grabbed her bag and began walking with Rachel towards the parking lot where his car was waiting.

"Well, you know. A little bird may have helped," he replied, "and I am, of course, talking about Pavarotti."

Rachel giggled in reply, "of course you are."

Unbeknownst to the pair, Finn Hudson was watching them with a frown on his face. Why would Rachel be hanging out with a Warbler? She was supposed to be in love with him, right? He paid no attention to Puck walking to his side, choosing to concentrate on Rachel and Thad's retreating figures. And why was the Warbler's arm around Rachel's shoulders?

"Give it up, man. He likes her, she likes him," Puck clapped his hand on Finn's left shoulder, trying to tear his friend's gaze away.

"But I thought she liked me?" Finn questioned, his voice laced with confusion.

"Yeah, she did like you. Past tense. Looks like Harwood is her future now," Puck announced, dragging his friend out of the school grounds.

"I figured you might want to leave your flowers at home, so I got Kurt to give me your address," Thad explained as he drove towards Rachel's neighbourhood.

Rachel smiled at his thoughtfulness, "that's fine, thanks. They are so beautiful; I wouldn't want them to wilt before I got home."

"Just like you," Thad commented, sneaking a glance at her before focusing his eyes back onto the road.

"What?"

"Beautiful. I got beautiful roses for a beautiful lady." As soon as the sentence left his mouth, Thad wanted to punch himself. That had to have been the most cheesiest line his brain could have thought up. When Rachel didn't reply, he sneaked another glance in her direction, and was surprised to see the blush that had coloured her cheeks. They drove in silence until Thad pulled onto her driveway, parking behind the same car that he had accompanied Rachel to on the night that they first spoke.

"Did you want to come in while I put these in water?" Rachel asked. "No-one's in, my Daddies normally share a car to work."

"Sure." Thad smiled and climbed out of the vehicle, running around to Rachel's side to grab her door for her. He followed Rachel as she headed into the house, taking her lead and kicking his shoes off and leaving them neatly next to hers. They padded into the kitchen, and Rachel immediately began pouring water into a vase for her roses. Thad studied the many photographs that decorated the walls of the room; Rachel was in every single one of them, and was either singing or dancing, or both.

"My Dad likes photography," Thad turned at the sound of Rachel's voice, unsure of how long she had been stood next to him.

"They're all great," he smiled, taking Rachel's hand in his own. "Do you want to go get that coffee now?" Rachel grinned in reply, before dragging Thad out of the house, giggling as Thad nearly tripped over in his haste to reach his car before Rachel did.

"Why do you do that?" Rachel questioned as Thad began backing out of the driveway. Thad waited until he was safely on the road before answering.

"My dad has always done it for my mom, and she says it makes her feel special. I just like the gesture, you know? I like the thought of making you feel special," he replied, "unless you're a firm believer in opening your own car doors. Then I won't bother anymore."

Rachel let out a soft laugh before replying. "I like the gesture too."

"Then I shall always endeavour to open your doors for you, Miss Rachel Berry," Thad grinned, briefly looking over at Rachel before sliding his right hand towards her left, clasping them together as they drove to the Lima Bean.

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><p><em>I am so sorry about how long it's taken me to get this chapter out! I suck at updating, aha! Massive thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited and put this on their story alerts, I love you all! <em>


	5. Chapter 5

After getting their coffees from the Lima Bean, Thad and Rachel decided to stroll through the little park that was directly opposite the coffee shop. They filled each other in about their days, Thad complaining about how Nick's infatuation with their French teacher was earning the class more homework than they've ever had before.

"Well, it's not like you can't handle the extra work, Thad. You are incredibly smart," Rachel reminded him, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I know I can handle the work, I just don't want to do it. It just seems like such a waste of time, especially as I'm not even taking French next year," Thad replied.

"Poor excuse!" Rachel exclaimed, throwing her hands up so fiercely that she almost upset her coffee, "how do you expect to become a lawyer if you don't work hard now? Just because I can sing doesn't mean that I don't keep practicing everyday so I can ensure my place at NYADA!"

Thad contemplated Rachel's words before nodding in agreement, "you're right."

"Of course I'm right, Thad!" Thad rolled his eyes and grabbed Rachel's hand and dragging her through the park before she could continue her rant. He knew that he had to start putting more effort into his studies, especially if he wanted to graduate well next year.

"So, how was Glee practice?" he asked, hoping to distract Rachel from their previous topic.

"We've had better practices, believe me," Rachel replied, taking another drink of coffee.

"Was Finn giving you a hard time again?" Thad questioned, trying his hardest to ignore the feeling of protectiveness that had just appeared.

"No! Mr Schue was trying to be all encouraging about Regionals, and it wasn't helping anyone. Well, anyone except Noah," Rachel said.

"I'm sure it'll all work out. Maybe you just need some inspiration," Thad replied, tossing his empty coffee cup in the trash. Rachel copied his actions, and the two continued walking around the park. They eventually exited the park, taking the long route back to Thad's car so he could drive Rachel home again.

"How about we do something different, next week?" Thad suggested as he pulled up outside Rachel's house. Another car had appeared in the driveway, telling Thad that Rachel's fathers were both at home. He was also sure that he saw a curtain twitch, but he couldn't be sure.

"Like what?" Rachel smiled, going to open her car door. Thad let out a strange noise, before diving out the door and launching himself at Rachel's. Rachel giggled at the boy in front of her and thanked him, smiling as he began walking her to her front door.

"Well, we could go for dinner? If your fathers' agree, of course," Thad smiled.

"That would be wonderful! Breadstix do great vegan meatballs!" Rachel announced, trying to sound enthusiastic over the thought of going to Breadstix again. It wasn't that she didn't like going there, she did, but it did get rather boring after a while.

"I wasn't thinking Breadstix," Thad replied. "There are some great restaurants near Dalton that do some great vegan dishes."

"That sounds great," Rachel said, sending Thad a smile. She could see her Dad peering out at the pair of them, and wanted to get inside before he came out and began interrogating Thad.

"Then it's a date." Thad gathered up all his courage and dipped his head down to meet his lips with Rachel's, unaware that her Dad was watching the pair of them through the curtains. Even Rachel forgot about her Dad, momentarily, and slowly brought her hand up around Thad's neck.

"Rachel!" the sound of Rachel's Dad broke the two apart, a blush forming on both their faces.

"Dad!" Rachel exclaimed, at a slight loss for words. "What are you doing?"

Her Dad chose to ignore the question, instead asking Rachel "Who's this?"

"This is Thad Harwood, Dad. He goes to Dalton with Kurt."

"Ah, you've mentioned Thad before!" Thad had to suppress a grin at Mr Berry's words. Rachel had mentioned him in front of her parents! Maybe she liked him more than he thought. "It's lovely to finally meet you, Thad."

"You too, Sir," Thad replied, shaking the hand that was offered to him. The three continued to make awkward small talk before Thad left, waving goodbye to both Rachel and Mr Berry.

"That was so embarrassing, Dad!" Rachel shrieked, storming into her house and up to her room as soon as Thad's car had disappeared from sight. Mr Berry merely chuckled and grinned at his husband at their daughter. Hopefully Thad would treat her better than Finn had.

With Rachel's words churning over in his head, Thad headed straight for his room when he arrived back at Dalton, and began working on all the homework he had been set during the past couple of days. He was so focused, he barely heard Trent enter the room, and Trent's questions didn't even register into Thad's brain. Finally, when his brain couldn't handle anymore schoolwork, Thad stopped working and stretched out onto his bed, nearly jumping out of his skin when Trent began bombarding him with questions.

"So?" Trent demanded.

"So what?" Thad replied, replying to a text that Rachel had sent him.

"So, did Rachel like her flowers?" Trent asked, beckoning Nick and Kurt into the room. Kurt took a seat on Thad's nearly empty desk, smiling to himself when he realised that Thad had already completed a good three quarters of the work that had been set for him. Nick collapsed onto the floor between Thad and Trent's bed, eager to know how his friend had gotten on this past afternoon.

"Yeah, she loved them."

"And?" Trent prompted, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his roommate. He got along well with Thad, but he was sometimes far too secretive for Trent's liking.

"And we went for coffee and walked around the park." Thad supplied, hoping that Trent wouldn't keep bothering him for information. Sometimes it seemed that Trent's appetite for gossip was insatiable.

"No canoodling? No re-enacting The Notebook without the rain?" Trent gasped, "Thaddeus, I'm disappointed.

"I never said I didn't kiss her," Thad pointed out, a devilish grin on his face, which only got wider as Trent leapt up in the air whooping and cheering.


	6. Chapter 6

Finn Hudson had spent most of his weekend trying to work out exactly when Rachel had stopped caring about him. He had his suspicions that it might have had something to do with the fact that he slept with Santana last year and lied about it, but Rachel had lied to him too! She said she slept with Jesse St. Jerk, when she hadn't! Finn honestly thought that Rachel was still in love with him, even though they had broken up in a spectacular fashion. And regardless of what was going on with him and Quinn, he still wanted Rachel to be in love with him. Call him mean, call him whatever you wanted, Finn was determined to make Rachel fall head-over-heels for him again. Finn grinned as all these thoughts rolled through his head, and as he began hatching his plan, he almost let out his evil mastermind laugh, but stopped when he remembered that Kurt was in the room with him.

Rachel had spent most of her weekend either texting and talking to Thad, or fending questions from her fathers about her new 'romantic interest' as they liked to call Thad. Hiram was convinced that Thad wasn't like those other boys that Rachel had been involved with before, and whilst Leroy wasn't as confident as his husband, he was certain that there was something special going on between the two.

"So, what time is your curfew on Friday?" Thad asked, ignoring Trent and Blaine as they made ridiculous kissing faces at him. Kurt, his only hope of sanity in the room had retired early, mumbling something about his moisturising regime and reminded them that they all had to be up early for school in the morning.

"I haven't spoken to my dads yet, but it won't be too early," Rachel replied, stretching out on her bed. She giggled at Blaine and Trent's impromptu rendition of Puppy Love, trying to picture the scene that was playing out in Thad's dorm room.

"Will you guys shut up?" Thad hissed, his hand pressed tightly over the speaker of his cell. Unfortunately for Thad, Jeff and Nick overheard the singing and came rushing into his room to join in, along with a good majority of all the other Warblers. Thad groaned, cursing loudly as Trent wrestled the phone from Thad's grasp and put the call on loudspeaker, so Rachel could hear the performance clearly. Puppy Love quickly faded into silence, before Blaine began leading the rest of the group into Silly Love Songs. Thad had no choice but to join in, and he hoped that Rachel wouldn't be too pissed that their conversation had been taken over by his loveable, but sometimes annoying, friends.

Rachel couldn't have pulled the grin off her face if she had tried. She knew the Warblers were New Directions competition, but at that moment in time, she really couldn't have cared less. They sounded absolutely flawless, even through her cell phone speaker. She bit her lip to stop herself from singing along, afraid that if she added her voice to the mix the performance would become tainted somehow. As the song came to a close, all the Warblers, with the exception of Thad called their farewells to Rachel, who shouted a goodbye in return. She heard the faint click of the loudspeaker being turned off, and settled herself into returning to their conversation.

"I'm so sorry!" Thad apologised, "if a Warbler starts singing at Dalton, it's a sure-fire guarantee that the rest of them will join in."

"Don't apologise, Thad!" Rachel exclaimed, "that was amazing! You guys sound so polished, it's incredible." The pair continued chatting uninterrupted until Hiram and Leroy poked their heads around Rachel's door to say goodnight to her. After noticing Rachel was on the phone, they called out a goodnight to Thad, who chuckled before reciprocating the gesture.

"How did they even know it was me on the phone?" Thad wondered, a small smile playing on his features. He knew it was because they had taken to talking to each other on the phone every evening, not in a weird "we're in a relationship and can't cope without talking to each other every day" way, they did it just because they were friends. After another ten minutes, Rachel bid Thad a goodnight, leaving Thad alone to be pounced on by Trent and Blaine, who had obviously been listening to his conversation through the door.

Rachel's Monday at McKinley was just like any other Monday at McKinley. She ignored the dirty looks the Cheerios sent her, steered clear of the football players, and kept her head down in her classes. She planned on eating her lunch in the choir room, safely away from anyone that could attempt to antagonise her, yet Tina had caught her arm and dragged Rachel over to eat lunch with her and Mike. The three spent their time chatting over their predicaments for the upcoming Regionals performance. Mike and Tina thought that writing their own original songs was a good idea, but they hadn't been able to come up with anything they felt was good enough for New Directions to sing.

Glee practice soon arrived, and Rachel was surprised to see that Santana, Mercedes and Noah had all written songs that they wanted to perform for the rest of the group. Santana started with an ode to Sam called Trouty Mouth, which no-one really got behind but didn't dare say to Santana's face. Mercedes' song was definitely better, it was catchy, yet the lyrics could definitely use some work, in Rachel's unshared opinion. Noah then got up; handing everyone lyric sheets for a song entitled Loser Like Me. As soon as Rachel scanned over the lyrics, she knew that this would be a song for Regionals. Thankfully everyone else shared her opinion, and all congratulated Noah on writing such an excellent song.

Mr Schuester dismissed the group, and Rachel quickly hurried to her locker to gather her things, making a mental note to e-mail Tina about Santana's song as she knew her friend had been struggling to not laugh out loud during Santana's performance.

"Hey," Rachel nearly jumped out of her skin at Finn's words; he was the last person she had expected to see standing next to her locker.

"Hello, Finn," Rachel replied, trying to leave a friendly tone to her voice.

"So, I was thinking, as we're co-captains of Glee, and we really need to write another song for Regionals, that maybe you and I should hang out together," Rachel decided to not look at her ex-boyfriend and focused on gathering her things to take home. "How about we go to Breadstix on Friday night, I know you love their vegan meatballs."

Rachel slammed her locker shut a little more forcefully than was necessary, slinging her bag on her shoulder before replying.

"I can't do Friday, I'm afraid. I already have plans."

"With Thad?" Finn questioned, pushing himself off of the locker to stand in front of Rachel.

"Yes, with Thad," Rachel confirmed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not that it's really any of your business. Why would you even want to go to dinner with me? You have your...whatever you have with Quinn, and I'm spending time with Thad." With those words, Rachel turned her back on Finn and began stalking down the hallway.

"It doesn't matter," Finn called out to her retreating figure, "I know you'll always love me, Rachel."


	7. Chapter 7

To say that Rachel was furious with Finn Hudson was an understatement. She had spent the rest of her week at school purposely avoiding him and trying desperately to write a song to express her anger over the situation. Unfortunately no inspiration came to her, even with Tina's help, so Rachel decided to just give it a rest and plan her outfit for her dinner date with Thad. Kurt had been trying to give her advice over the phone, and when he could tell that it wouldn't work, invited himself over after school ended on Friday to help Rachel get ready. He entrusted Trent with the task of helping Thad get ready, thankful that Trent was just as fashion-conscious as he was.

Kurt had wanted to get his hands on Rachel's wardrobe ever since he had seen that awful powder-blue sweater that got covered in slushie. Her fashion sense was most definitely improving, he noted, as he dug around for a dress that would be suitable for the evening. He had tasked her with curling her hair, something that he knew would take Rachel a good half-hour to do, thanks to her perfectionist trait. He had managed to find out where Thad was taking Rachel, and when Kurt googled the restaurant, he almost keeled over in shock. Kurt didn't dare begin to imagine how much the meal would cost Thad. After more rummaging, Kurt happened upon an outfit perfect for the occasion. He pulled it out of the closet with a triumphant grin, stooping down to grab a pair of shoes and a purse that would go perfectly with the dress.

"Are you sure that's not too over the top?" Rachel questioned, eyeing the navy blue dress Kurt was clutching with slight uncertainty.

"Absolutely not!" Kurt cried, brushing away a piece of imaginary lint. Rachel set down her curling iron and gently tugged the dress out of Kurt's grip, stepping into her bathroom to change. Kurt had to hold back a squeal of excitement when she re-emerged; Thad wouldn't have a clue what had hit him when he saw Rachel Berry tonight. The dress was cut into the style of a 1950's prom dress and fit Rachel perfectly. Catching the time, Kurt quickly pushed Rachel into a pair of silver heels and shoved her purse into her hands before running out of her room, calling out goodbyes and well-wishes behind him. Rachel turned and looked at herself in her full-length mirror, hoping she was wearing the right kind of outfit for her dinner with Thad. Butterflies began racing around her stomach as she heard the door knock, and she took a few deep breaths before exiting her room to meet Thad. Thad's melodic voice floated up into Rachel's ears as he stood chatting to Rachel's fathers, yet he stopped in mid-sentence as soon as his eyes locked on Rachel.

Thad literally could not believe his luck. Rachel Berry was stood on top of her staircase looking like a beautiful princess, and he was the one that would be her prince for the night. A month ago, Thad would never have thought that this scenario was possible, yet here he was, in an almost-relationship with Rachel Barbra Berry.

"Hi," Rachel smiled, feeling a lot more nervous than she had five minutes previous.

"You look beautiful, Rachel," Thad announced, leaning forward to brush his cheek against Rachel's when she finally joined him and her parents at the bottom of the stairs. Neither of her fathers could stop grinning at the pair, Hiram's grin widening when he realised that Thad's tie matched the colour of Rachel's dress.

"What time is curfew, Sirs?" Thad questioned, hoping that he would be given enough time for the evening to go exactly as planned.

"Make sure she's back in time for breakfast," Hiram chuckled, clapping his hand against Thad's shoulder. Leroy laughed alongside his husband, opening the door for Rachel and Thad. The pair watched as Thad led her to his car, smiling approvingly as he opened the door for Rachel before getting into the car himself.

"He is certainly something different," Leroy announced, closing the door as Thad pulled away from the house. Hiram murmured in agreement before heading into the kitchen to rescue their dinner.

Rachel's jaw dropped open as Thad came to a stop in front of one of the most expensive restaurants in Ohio. She was too dumb-founded to even think about getting out of the car, only being knocked out of her reverie as Thad's hand reached down to help her get out of the car.

"Thad, this is too much," Rachel protested, her eyes widening as Thad led her into the restaurant. She mentally cursed Kurt for not even remotely hinting at where Thad was taking her, and then mentally thanked him for choosing an outfit that was appropriate for the occasion.

"Nothing is too much for you, Rachel," Thad whispered as they were seated. He smiled and reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together. "I just wanted this to be perfect for you."

"This is more than perfect, Thad. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined coming here before I'd graduated high school. Especially with someone like you."

"Like me?" Thad questioned, hoping that Rachel was complimenting him.

"I guess that I thought that Finn and I were going to last throughout high school, at least. Then that whole relationship ended and I found you, chasing down a street to cover me with your umbrella because mine wouldn't open. I never would have thought that someone like you, a boy who could literally have any girl that he wanted, would ever want someone like me." Rachel took a tiny sip of water as she finished speaking, cursing herself for being so open in front of Thad.

"That's because you are literally perfect to me. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the lucky one here, not you," Thad accompanied his words with a gentle squeeze of Rachel's hand, before breaking them apart as their food arrived.

"But we never ordered?" Rachel announced, her voice laced with confusion. "How do I know it's vegan?"

"It's already been taken care of," Thad promised, "I spoke with your dads to find out what kind of food you really liked, then spoke to the chef and he made sure that everything was vegan for you." Rachel opened her mouth, as if to protest again that everything was far too much, so Thad quickly spoke again.

"The chef is a family friend. Honestly. My dad knows some pretty cool people, and I chose to finally take advantage of that fact tonight. I just didn't want to tell you in case you thought that I took an easy way out on the date."

Rachel relaxed slightly, sending out a dazzling grin across the table, "does your dad know any chefs in New York?"

Thad and Rachel's meal continued on without a hitch, and the pair found themselves walking through the small garden area that was opposite the restaurant a couple of hours later. Thad had shrugged off his jacket to place around Rachel's bare shoulders, insisting that he would be perfectly warm enough in his shirt and waistcoat.

"The meal was so perfect Thad. Thank you." Rachel hoped that Thad understood the sincerity of her thanks; she had never been treated in this way by anyone but her fathers.

"It was my pleasure," Thad smiled. Rachel suddenly stopped walking and turned to face Thad, leaning up to place her lips upon his. Any coldness Thad may have been feeling soon melted away as the kiss continued, and he was pleased that no-one would be able to interrupt them this time. Unfortunately for Thad, the kiss ended far sooner than he wanted it to, yet one glance at Rachel told him that she had something that she wanted to say to him.

"This is probably the dumbest thing I'll ever ask. In fact, I can't believe I'm going to ask you this, but, am I your girlfriend?" Rachel whispered, her breath tickling Thad's cheek as she spoke.

"Do you want to be?" Thad replied, a smile playing on his lips. The grin that formed on Rachel's face was all the answer he needed, so he quickly leant forward to capture her lips with his own again.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone appeared to have a different reaction when they awoke on Saturday morning and saw that Thad and Rachel had updated their relationship status on Facebook. Kurt practically fell out of bed, before grabbing his phone, determined to know every single detail of the night previous. Jeff groaned and reached for his wallet, cursing Nick's luck at guessing when this would happen. Trent even cheered out loud, waking up the rest of his household, before he text Thad. And Finn? Well, Finn just sat in confusion, staring at the Facebook page in front of him. This was not supposed to be happening.

That had been around a month ago, and now Rachel was sat at her desk, practically sick with nerves over meeting Thad's family. She glanced down at her cell, swallowing hard when she realised she only had five minutes until she had to leave for Thad's house.

"You can do this," she spoke to her reflection in the floor length mirror next to her. "You're Rachel Barbra Berry. You can do anything." She paused to take in a deep breath, looking down at her outfit as she did so. She had asked Kurt for his advice on what to wear, and for once, had stuck to what he'd told her. He understood why she was so nervous, but told her that from what he'd heard from the rest of the Warblers, Thad's family were nothing short of wonderful, and that he was sure Thad's parents would love her. Rachel got up and exited her room, grabbing her jacket and purse from where they were hung on by the staircase.

"Are you now heading off to Thad's, honey?" Hiram questioned as he exited kitchen. One glance at his daughter told him just how nervous she was, so he pressed a reassuring kiss onto her temple.

"They'll love you," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her in a brief hug. "Now go and enjoy yourself! I've made us some cookies so you can sit and tell me all about them." Rachel smiled at her dad's words, and left the house feeling a tiny bit more confident than she had whilst she was sat in her room.

The Harwood household was in chaos. This was the first time Thad had ever invited a girl over for dinner, and according to his mother, that meant everything had to be **perfect. **She'd spent the week researching vegan dishes that her entire family would eat, despite Thad's protests that she didn't have to make an entirely vegan meal. The whole family had each been given a task to complete in order to make the Harwood home perfect; even Thad's father had been roped into helping, although he'd managed to shy away from his task, Thad realised as he heaved more boxes around in the garage. He wasn't even sure why he had to clean the garage; he certainly had no plans to take Rachel in there, even if he was forced into giving her a tour of the house.

"Is this okay?" Thad announced, walking into the kitchen in a third different outfit. The first two had been totally disregarded by his mother, and Thad hoped this one would satisfy her, as he didn't have time to change again before Rachel's arrival. His mother turned and looked over her son, a happy smile spreading over her features.

"Much better," she smiled, sorting the collar on Thad's grey shirt. "Where's your father?"

"In the study. Jenny and Dani are still getting ready. I'm going to go wait for Rachel, okay?" Thad replied, leaning in to kiss his mother on the cheek. "By the way, mom. Thanks."

"For what?" she replied, her spoon stuck in mid-stir.

"For all this," Thad smiled, gesturing to the food that was cooking on the stove. Before his mom could reply he hurried out the front door, nervously pacing back and forth on the porch. He knew Rachel would be nervous, hell, he was nervous and this was his own family! Trent had been attempting to calm Thad down about this all week at Dalton, although his efforts had appeared fruitless. Trent couldn't work out why Thad was so nervous, anyway. If the Harwood family could love Nick and Jeff the way they did (who knows why?) then they would surely love Rachel Berry. After what felt like forever, he finally spotted Rachel's silver car slowly making its way down the street towards his house. He rushed over to Rachel's door and opened it for her as soon as she put her car into park.

"I'm so nervous, Thad," she whispered, clutching hold of his hand.

"Don't be. Mom has never been so excited before. She loves you before she's even met you," Thad replied, determined to hide his own nerves from Rachel. He leaned down to press his lips to Rachel's.

"Your house is so big," Rachel stated as they pulled apart. "And it looks so lovely."

"Wait until you see the inside," Thad grinned, tugging Rachel along, his nerves almost forgotten.

Rachel tried to remember some kind of breathing exercise as she walked hand in hand with Thad towards his house. Her nerves just would not leave her, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that nothing could go wrong. Thad seemed to recognise this and squeezed her hand, kissing her again just as they reached the front door. Thad opened the door for Rachel and gestured for her to step inside, which she did, coming face-to-face with Thad's twin sisters.

"Hi!" they exclaimed in unison, bright smiles on their faces. The twins had been unbelievably excited to meet Rachel, they had bugged Thad every day until he finally revealed when she was going to be meeting their family. And since that day, they had been bugging him with questions about Rachel. He swore they were going to turn into creepy superfans of someone who they had never met. Until now, that was.

"Rach, these are my sisters Jennifer and Danielle," Thad introduced, pointing at the respective twin. "Jenny, Dani, this is Rachel Berry."

"You're really pretty, Rachel," Jenny announced. Dani nodded in agreement before they disappeared into another room, leaving Rachel a little stunned over what had just happened. Thad remained silent for a second, shocked his sisters had said so little.

"Thad? Is that you?" Thad's mother bustled into the entrance hall, her apron still tightly tied around her waist. Her eyes rounded on Rachel, and her face immediately broke into a huge grin. "You must be Rachel. I'm Thad's mother, please call me Sharon. Oh, you just look lovely! I hope you'll enjoy what I've cooked today dear, I'm not too familiar with vegan cooking, but Thad suggested some of the foods that you liked." His mother's voice faded as she grabbed hold of Rachel's arm, steering her into the kitchen to show off dinner. Thad took this opportunity to inform his father that Rachel was here.

"Dad?" Thad poked his head around the half open study door. His father looked up from his laptop screen, no doubt working on his latest case.

"Rachel's here?" he questioned, nodding along with Thad. He quickly shut down his laptop and pulled his glasses off of his face, and quickly joined Thad at the door.

"I suppose we had best rescue her from your mother, right?" his father glanced at his son good-humouredly, clapping a hand onto his shoulder. The two men headed into the kitchen, and when they found it empty, opted for the dining room, where Rachel, Thad's sisters and Thad's mother were all engaged in a deep conversation over...well, Thad wasn't exactly sure what. His father cleared his throat, causing all four women to look up at him. Rachel stood up immediately, her nerves seemingly vanished and replaced with the confidence she usually wore.

"Rachel, this is my dad, Edward. Dad, this is Rachel Berry," Thad introduced, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Harwood," Rachel announced, sending one of her famous smiles to Thad's father.

"Oh, please, call me Ed, Rachel. Nearly everyone does. And the pleasure is most certainly mine. Welcome to the Harwood home."


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Not a huge fan of this chapter, but it's kinda necessary. Also, I'm sorry about how long it took to get this one up. Real life got in the way, haha, but thank you for still reading&reviewing&following&favouriting. You guys are awesome!_

* * *

><p>Rachel was halfway through her main course, which was absolutely delicious, before she realised that this was her first time properly meeting a boyfriend's parents. And it was going great. Thad's sisters were possibly the sweetest girls she had ever met, and they begged her to help them improve their singing, which Rachel had happily agreed to.<p>

"So, Rachel, what colleges are you looking into attending?" Ed questioned over their dessert. Thad shoved a spoonful into his mouth to stop himself from groaning out loud, why his dad had to choose to talk about college was beyond him. Especially as college was such a sensitive topic between Thad and his parents.

"NYADA. It's been my dream since I was old enough to understand what college was," Rachel replied, seemingly unfazed by Ed's question. Thad figured that Rachel was probably so used to talking about college that it didn't bother her in the way it bothered Thad, or Thad's mother.

"That's an extremely competitive college, from what I've heard. Although if what Jennifer and Danielle say is true, then I've no doubt your talent will get you an admission in no time," Ed smiled, before re-focussing his attention onto his dessert. Thad caught Rachel's confused expression and quickly swallowed his mouthful.

"They've been watching your Myspace videos religiously," he announced, grinning at the blush that started to form on the twins' cheeks.

"Only because we didn't think you could possibly be as good as Thad said you were," Jenny grumbled.

"And then we found out you were so much better," Dani finished, looking up at Rachel with a small smile.

"Well, I think it's fantastic that you wish to make a career out of your hobby, Rachel. So many people force themselves into jobs that they really have no interest in doing," Sharon announced, catching Ed's eye as she rose to clear the table. Rachel's offer of help was quickly turned down, and Thad took that opportunity to show Rachel around the rest of his house.

"You never told me you had a music room here!" Rachel announced as Thad opened the door to the final room in the house. He had planned on saving this one for last, knowing that he would have never been able to get Rachel to leave once she'd entered.

"Well, most of us are musical, so it makes sense, I guess," Thad replied, taking a seat on the piano bench so he could watch Rachel move around the room. Once she'd inspected every nook and cranny of the room, she sat down next to him and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

"I've never heard you sing, not properly," Rachel said, spinning around on the bench so she was facing the piano. The two would occasionally sing a ten-second snippet of whatever song was stuck in their head at the time, and Rachel had loved what little she had heard of Thad's voice. "Sing me your favourite song."

Thad paused for a second, before standing up and closing the door. He slid in front of the piano, lifting up its cover and placing his hands on the keys. Taking a deep breath, he began to play.

_"I can't believe it's over, I watched the whole thing fall," _he sang, much to Rachel's delight. She hadn't expected him to choose Michael Bublé, but the song suited his voice perfectly. Rachel studied his face, smiling as she noticed Thad's closed eyes.

"'_Cause you are not alone, I'm always there with you, and we'll get lost together, 'til the light comes pouring through."_ Thad opened his eyes and stared directly at Rachel as he sang, hoping she was enjoying his performance. He continued playing and singing for Rachel, never breaking eye contact as he did so. Once the song finished, he quickly covered the keys again, almost too afraid to find out what Rachel had thought of his song.

"That was amazing," Rachel whispered, leaning closer to Thad so she could kiss him. Relief poured through him as he kissed her back, he hated performing solo almost as much as he hated French homework.

"Your voice is exceptional. The Warblers are lucky to have you." Just as Thad was about to reply, the door to the music room flew open, and Ed stood on the other side.

"Doors open at all time, please," he announced, glancing at the teenage couple, who simply nodded in response.

"I'm so glad it's not just my dads that do that," Rachel announced as soon as Ed had walked away. Thad merely grinned in response and turned his head, wanting another kiss. After a lot more goofing around in the music room, it was time for Rachel to leave and head back to her home. Jenny and Dani only let her leave after she promised to visit them again soon, and start their singing lessons. Sharon had insisted she take some leftovers from the meal home, so both Rachel and Thad exited the house carrying tubs full of leftover vegan food.

"You know, I never knew vegan food could be that good," Thad commented with a smile, loading the tubs into the backseat.

"Your mom is a great cook. You really must thank her again for me," Rachel replied, walking into Thad's outstretched arms. "You give good hugs too."

Thad breathed out a laugh, kissing the top of her head, before pulling back slightly and kissing her goodbye. Rachel unlocked her car and Thad opened the door for her, leaning in to give her one last kiss before she set off back home. After he'd watched her car disappear down the end of the street, Thad turned and walked into his house, grinning from ear-to-ear at just how well the day went.

Rachel could barely wipe the smile off her face as she drove home; Thad's family seemed to like her! All of her previous worries seemed trivial to her now, she realised, as she pulled onto her driveway. Hiram opened the door to greet his daughter, his smile widening into a grin as he saw her carrying several tubs of food from her car.

"It obviously went well then," he commented, closing the door behind him when they were both inside.


	10. Chapter 10

"Guys, Regionals are in less than two weeks and we still only have one song written! I'm giving you a week to write one more song, or it's a toss-up between Hell to the No and Trouty Mouth," Mr Schuester exclaimed.

"I'm a lyrical genius," Santana muttered under her breath before speaking loudly, "it was Berry's idea, so why hasn't she come up with something yet?"

Rachel bristled at her tone, Santana was correct in saying it was her idea to write original songs, she just hadn't expected it to be this damn difficult!

"I'm just waiting for the inspiration I need, Santana," she replied, tidying up the mounds of paper that surrounded her. Mike and Tina were working across from her, Tina was trying, without much luck, to write a song, and Mike was going over the choreography for Loser Like Me. A waded up piece of paper fell close to Rachel, and she looked up, wanting to know if it was worth her opening it. Finn caught her eye and nodded slightly, so she quickly grabbed the paper before anyone else could get their hands on it.

"_My offer still stands. You know we work well together and we both want to win Regionals."_

Rachel frowned at the sight of Finn's messy scrawl. She did want New Directions to win Regionals more than anything, but was it worth her spending time with Finn? Sighing, she decided that one afternoon with Finn wouldn't hurt, especially if a song came out of the session.

"Well?" Rachel flinched at Finn's demanding tone, but nonetheless she turned to face him. The choir room had slowly emptied, leaving just the pair of them in the room.

"I've reached the decision that it would most likely be worth our time to work together," she announced. Finn smiled at her reply; maybe his plan would actually work this time!

"Great, let's get started!" his voice came out far louder than necessary, Rachel noted, had he always spoken at that level when they were together?

Unfortunately for Rachel, their afternoon wasn't as productive as she would have liked. They arranged to meet again the following afternoon, even though Rachel had originally planned to go over to Thad's and start Jenny and Dani's singing lessons, she figured she could just push it back an hour. She felt bad spending time with Finn, even though it was completely in the interests of her Glee club. And she was sure that Thad would understand that.

"I swear, if Wes bangs his gavel once more during practice, I'm going to shove it in some place that it shouldn't be shoved," Thad groaned, collapsing onto his bed as he spoke to Rachel. Trent looked up in amusement before focusing his attention back onto his homework.

"I'm sure he's not that bad!" Rachel replied, her laugh instantly putting a smile onto Thad's face.

"Believe me, he is," Thad confirmed. "Are you looking forward to teaching the twin terrors  
>tomorrow?"<p>

"I am actually. Although I need to push it back an hour, we've had an emergency Glee practice scheduled tomorrow, it was the only day the rest of the club could do," Rachel winced as she spoke, hoping her little white lie wouldn't come back and bite her on the butt in the future.

"Oh, that's fine. Did you want me to come and get you?" Thad questioned, a little annoyed at the sudden change in plans, but there wasn't really anything he could really do about it. It'd give him more time to grab a coffee before going to pick his sisters up and drive them back home.

"Oh, no. It'll be far easier if I just meet you at your house."

Much to Rachel's disgust, school finished far quicker than she wanted it to, meaning that she had to spend time with Finn. On the Brightside, it meant that she would be spending time with Thad and his sisters a lot sooner, especially if they finished this song that they had started. Finn seemed to have other ideas though, and spent a good ten minutes badgering Rachel with questions until she finally snapped and told him to work on the song.

Thad checked his watch for what felt like the hundredth time in the past five minutes. He was pleased that Rachel had pushed back everything by an hour; the way the line at the Lima Bean was moving, he'd be lucky to actually get his coffee and leave here on time. Finally, they all shuffled forward slightly, and the person who had been occupying the Barista's time headed towards the door. Thad was all set for glaring at the offending person, but his dirty look quickly faded away as he recognised the person to be Noah Puckerman. Puck noticed Thad and nodded to him, pausing to say hi.

"Has practice finished early?" Thad queried, panicking that he would be late in meeting Rachel at his house. Confusion crept onto Puck's face before he answered.

"We didn't have practice today, man. Not unless Schue called one and no-one told me." Thad nodded at his words, and Puck clapped him on the shoulder before heading out of the door. Thad frowned, deeply confused over why Rachel had lied to him. He shook it off, deciding to ask her about it later after she'd given her lesson to the twins.

"I think we're gonna need another session," Finn announced, "or maybe we should go get some coffee and continue this at the Lima Bean?"

"I don't think so!" Rachel replied, jumping up and grabbing her bag. "We can just finish it in Glee tomorrow. I have places to be."

"With Thad?" Finn questioned, a mocking edge to his voice.

"Yes, with Thad. He makes me so incredibly happy Finn." Rachel walked out of the room as soon as she finished speaking, leaving Finn alone with her words echoing around him.

"You guys have incredible voices!" Rachel couldn't help but beam at the twins. Their voices were amazing; it was easy for her to tell that they had received a very musical background growing up. She wondered if that was all Sharon's doing, and made a mental note to ask Thad at some point. The twins grinned back, already talking at top speed about how excited they were for next week. Rachel slipped out of the music room and headed towards Thad's, hoping that the bad mood he had been in earlier was gone.

"Hi," she said, strolling into the room. She stood awkwardly by the door, unsure of where to sit, especially after the look she had just received.

"I thought you had glee practice after school?" even Thad winced at the harsh tone he had used. Rachel's eyes widened, and he saw her take a few deep breaths before answering.

"I, I did!" she stammered.

"Then why did I see Puck in the coffee shop when you should have been practicing?" Thad demanded, still keeping his voice at a reasonable level. "He told me you didn't have practice."

"I was with Finn," Rachel whispered, "it was to help prepare for Regionals and I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to get mad!"

"Well, it didn't work Rach. If you'd have told me the truth in the first place I wouldn't be this frustrated. I'm not pissed that you were working with him, not really. I'm pissed that you blew off my sisters for an hour so you could do so."

"I'm sorry!" Rachel replied, trying her hardest to not cry.

"So am I," Thad said, before turning his back on her. Rachel took that as her cue to leave and fled out of the house as quickly as she could. She managed to make it all the way back to her room before the tears began to fall. She knew she shouldn't have lied. She knew she should have told Thad the truth. But she didn't. And now she was going to have to deal with the consequences. Thad hadn't broken up with her, but she knew that it was going to inevitably happen.

"What have I done?" she whispered to herself, staring at the ceiling. Then, all at once, the inspiration she'd been looking for hit her, and through her tears she grabbed her notebook and began pouring her heart out onto paper.


	11. Chapter 11

Thad lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and silently stewing over what had happened the week previous. He was studiously ignoring all of Rachel's calls and messages, knowing full well that he wasn't being totally fair to her but at the same time, really not giving a damn.

Trent looked over at his roommate and sighed, he hated seeing him so miserable (which Trent knew Thad was, even if he did choose to portray his sadness as anger). He had heard both sides of the story from Thad and Kurt, and felt that Thad and Rachel were both to blame. He had phrased his opinion carefully around Thad however, not wanting his friend to blow up in his face. Nick had told him, in Nick's direct way, that he needed to talk to Rachel and received a French textbook to the knee for his troubles. Yeah, Trent really was treading carefully around Thad at the moment. He compared sharing with Thad as living with a live volcano; you never knew when they were about to erupt. Trent had been woken up twice this week thanks to Thad's bad mood, something that he was extremely unimpressed about.

Nick hobbled towards their open door, and motioned for Trent to come outside. Shooting one last worried glance at his friend, Trent got up and exited the room, following Nick as he limped down the hallway and into the common room area. Most of the other Warblers were gathered there, Trent noticed, including Wes and his gavel.

"Good, you're here Warbler Trent," Wes nodded, before looking around the room at the group in front of him, "Intervention of Warbler Thad has commenced!" Trent was sure he'd never seen Wes tap his gavel so lightly, but he assumed it was so that Thad didn't hear him.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Kurt announced, barely able to contain his frustration. He stood up from his seat next to Blaine and began pacing around the room. "Rachel has been desperately trying to get a hold of Thad, yet he refuses to answer any of her calls. Mercedes has told me that Rachel is beside herself, she doesn't talk to anyone, and she doesn't participate in anything. Not even Glee. And we can all see for ourselves that Thad isn't exactly a bright ray of sunshine either!" Kurt paused, his face flushed, and he straightened out his jacket before taking his seat again.

"I have the injury to prove it too!" Nick piped up, causing everyone to roll their eyes.

"That was probably more to do with your lack of tact than anything else," Blaine commented, "especially as he chose his French book to throw. You know he has a vendetta against you because of your obsession."

"It is not an obsession!" Nick cried, before pouting when he realised no-one was going to back him up.

"I just don't see what we can do," Trent announced, "Thad is the most stubborn person I've ever met, if he's decided he's not going to answer any of Rachel's calls, and believe me when I say there's hundreds, then he won't. We can't force him to answer the phone. We can't force him to listen to what Rachel has to say. And we most certainly can't force him to accept her apologies."

"The only thing I have to suggest, and this is possibly going out on a limb, as I'm not even sure what it fully entails. But Tina told Mercedes who told me that Rachel has found a unique way to apologise to Thad during Regionals. We just need to keep him there long enough," Kurt replied, hoping to goodness that his friend really did have an apology planned at Regionals.

"Regionals is still a week away!" Trent pointed out, "is there nothing she could do sooner?"

"She has been trying," Kurt replied, "or have you just managed to tune out the sound of Thad's ringtone?"

"Well, Kurt may be onto something. Our only problem is the fact that Thad has requested permission to leave the Regionals performance directly after we finish our set. He hasn't yet been granted that permission, we were waiting to hold our next practice before we all took a vote. But we need to make this realistic. We're going to deny him, but it must be convincing!" Wes announced, before going over the plan he had spent the better part of his evening putting together.

Trent felt positively sick during the Warblers practice the next day. He knew that what they were doing was for the better, especially if it meant giving Rachel a chance to apologise. But he also knew that Thad was going to be in a foul mood after his request was denied, and Trent would be the one to try and defuse that mood, a task he really was not looking forward to.

"And now, we go through the requests from the Warblers," Wes announced. If he was nervous about what was going to happen next, his voice certainly didn't portray it. "Warbler Thad has requested early leave from our Regionals performance. Warbler Thad, what is the reason for this leave?"

"My parents want to take my sisters and I out for a meal afterwards, especially as Crawford just won their choir championship, and as my father is going away to New York for two weeks in the late evening, the only time they can do so is straight after my performance," Trent could smell the lie a mile away, yet had to pretend to believe in what Thad was saying.

"Are your parents going to be watching the performance?" he questioned.

"They're not sure. You know how they are," Thad smiled, and Trent's heart sank as he realised just how easily his friend was lying to him.

"Well, all in favour of granting Warbler Thad's request?" Wes cut in, before Trent could say anything else. Hands rose in the air, Trent's included, as had been arranged the previous night. Thad's smile began to falter as he counted the hands in the air, realising his wish hadn't been granted.

"I'm sorry Warbler Thad, but your request has not been granted," Wes barely had time to bang his gavel before Thad was out of the door, Trent hurrying to follow him.

Thad flew into their room, sending a few kicks at his desk before pummelling the wall. He paused when he noticed Trent stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"You know, I would have fully supported you if your parents really wanted to take you out for a celebratory dinner. I know that your dad doesn't support the musical side of your family, and it would be amazing to see him change and start to do that. But to use that as a poor excuse to lie over not wanting to see Rachel perform is pathetic! And the worse thing about this Thad is the fact that you lied to your friends about this too, and we all knew it. If you wanted to leave early because of that, then maybe you should have just said that in the first place, instead of lying to all of us! Because that sure as hell is not going to win you any favours. Maybe if you just sucked it up and listened to what Rachel had to say to you, we wouldn't be going through all of this!" after his speech, Trent turned and stormed down towards the common room, leaving a stunned Thad in his wake. Thad shook himself out of his stupor and hurried out of the room after his friend, determined to apologise to Trent. He had already lost Rachel, one good part of his life; he couldn't afford to lose another by hurting his best friend.


	12. Chapter 12

Rachel couldn't believe Regionals had come around so quickly. Ten days ago, Thad had basically ended their short relationship. Whilst their Facebook pages stated they were still together, Rachel knew it was just a short amount of time before Thad made the move to make the end of their relationship official. He had ignored all of her calls and messages, and, from what Kurt had told Rachel, was still rather angry about the whole situation. Not that she could blame him. Rachel just hoped that the Warblers would make good of their promise to keep Thad seated during New Directions performance.

She didn't have enough time to worry about that, though. She settled down in her seat, ready to absorb herself in the Warblers and their performance. Rachel was so excited for Kurt; she had jumped up and down in delight when he told her he had co-lead vocals for their opening number. He really deserved to have his spotlight. In fact, it had been Kurt's news that brought her out of her zombie-like stupor, once she found out that Blaine and Kurt were an official item, she could almost feel her normal self returning. Until she remembered she was alone. And would probably turn into a crazy cat lady when she was older.

"You're not going to be a crazy cat lady," Tina reassured her, leaning forward in her seat. Rachel jumped and turned around, a blush slowly forming on her cheeks.

"I said that out loud again, didn't I?" she questioned, quietly groaning when Tina nodded in affirmation. Rachel was about to continue their conversation when the lights dimmed, and she sat back in her seat. As soon as Kurt began singing, Rachel felt herself fill up with a mixture of pride and sadness. She was so incredibly happy for Kurt, yet she couldn't help but feel sad at their song choice. The lyrics practically ripped through her, and if she didn't know better, she'd have said that Thad chose the song himself. Forget Kurt and Blaine duetting this song, Thad might as well have just sat her down on a stool and sang it directly to her. Those feelings didn't stop her from jumping out of her seat once the song came to a close, however. Kurt deserved her applause, no matter what.

The Warblers smoothly began performing Raise Your Glass, and Rachel found her eyes fixed on Thad as he sang with the group. If he was sad at all, he did an excellent job of hiding it, she noted. But watching Thad didn't stop her from jumping up from her seat and dancing along with the group. If she had to lose to anyone, she would rather it be the Warblers. The song came to an end, and Rachel found herself being ushered backstage along with the rest of the New Directions.

"I've never been so nervous before!" Rachel hissed, pacing back and forth whilst desperately trying to keep the contents of her stomach.

"You're going to be fine, Diva," Mercedes replied, grabbing hold of Rachel's arms to keep her still. "Kurt's just text me to say that Thad is in the audience, and he ain't going to be leaving any time soon. The boy will be crazy if he doesn't come back to you."

A small piece of hope began to blossom through Rachel. With Thad in the audience, he'd at least be able to hear just how sorry Rachel truly was. After that though, the ball would be in his court. She took a deep breath and headed out onto the stage and into her spotlight.

Thad knew that he had no chance of escaping the auditorium before New Directions began performing. He had Nick and Trent sitting either side of him, and every time he moved Trent would glare to remind him that he was staying put in his seat. The lights dimmed, and he began to feel nauseous. He wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to cope with watching Rachel perform, knowing that he had been a total ass about the situation.

Rachel walked out onto the stage, looking more nervous than he'd ever seen her. She stood centre stage, the sole spotlight on her as the piano began to play.

"_What have I done? I wish I could run, away from this ship going under."_Thad didn't recognise the song, but he was hooked onto it as soon as Rachel began singing. He couldn't help but hear the pain in her voice, and knew immediately that he was the one that had caused the pain. And, as soon as Kurt had announced that it was an original song, one that Rachel had written herself, that everything clicked into place. And Thad's anger and frustration melted away, and was instead replaced with guilt. There wasn't anything wrong with Rachel; the problem was the idiotic way he'd chosen to deal with the situation. The song progressed, and Thad realised that he didn't want Rachel to have to 'get it right' with the next person. He wanted to make it right with her. If she'd even have him back.

As soon as Rachel had finished, Thad tried desperately to get out of his seat and run to Rachel, yet Nick and Trent wrestled him back down.

"I need to see her!" Thad protested, still squirming under their grips.

"Yes, but they're still performing!" Trent hissed back, "and I doubt she'd appreciate your stage invasion, no matter how much she misses you!"

Thad sat through what had to be the longest two and a half minutes of his life, but he had to admit, their second song was pretty awesome. Rachel had told him that the bullying their club received was pretty bad, and he thought the slushie cups were a great added touch. He'd have to make sure he told Rachel that, eventually. Once he'd apologised and begged for her to take him back. Finally, once New Directions had finished and exited the stage, Thad was allowed to bolt backstage to where Rachel was. He burst into the dressing room and spotted her talking to Tina. He began to determinedly stride towards her, and had even managed to catch her eye, when their choir director suddenly dragged her away. It did look like Rachel tried to break out of his grasp, but the teacher appeared to be having none of it.

"Where's she going?" Thad panicked, noticing that the rest of New Directions had left the room as well.

"Come on, Romeo. It's time for them to announce the results of Regionals. Your reconciliation will have to wait a few more minutes," Trent replied, clasping his hand on his friend's shoulder and leading him back onto the stage.


	13. Chapter 13

_I am so, so sorry over how long it's taken me to get this chapter out! This was probably the most difficult chapter I've written so far, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Thanks for sticking with this story (and my lack of updates!) and I hope you enjoy!_

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><p>Tina had decided that Mr Schuester and the Regionals judges had to have the worst timing in the entire universe. Just when Thad and Rachel were about to make up, they had to announce the winners of the competition. And who was the one who was left to deal with a panicking Rachel? Tina was, of course. Admittedly, Thad's friend, Tina thought his name was Trent but couldn't be sure, seemed to be in the same situation as Tina.<p>

"What is taking them so long?" Tina hissed, glaring at the envelope that contained all the answers that they needed. Tina was pretty sure that Rachel didn't really care if they won or not, she just needed to hear what Thad had to say to her. Tina glanced over at the boy and saw that he had a slightly deranged look in his eyes, and Trent looked just about ready to tackle the announcer and get on with the results. Tina decided she'd help him. After all they were the ones suffering more than anyone else on the stage, couldn't the judges see that? Finally, after what felt like a century of waiting, the envelope was opened, and New Directions were announced as the winners. Not that Tina and Rachel cared, of course. Rachel was too busy focusing on Thad, and Tina was too busy signalling Mike to get Finn away from Rachel. Luckily, Mike understood and practically tackled Finn, with Sam following suit.

Blaine and Kurt were the first ones to break away from The Warblers to congratulate New Directions, and Trent all but carried Thad over to Rachel. Seeing him stood so close to her, Rachel broke away from Puck's vice grip hug and stood in front of Thad, who did nothing but crash his lips against hers. Tina watched the scene with a hug smile on her face, and happily high-fived Trent, who could barely contain his happiness for his friend.

"I'm sorry," Thad whispered, finally breaking away from Rachel and pressing his forehead against hers. "I've been an ass."

"I'm sorry too," Rachel replied, "I should never have lied." She would have said more, but Kurt jumped on top of her, squealing about her songwriting talents. Trent clapped Thad on the shoulder, happy that their world had been set back to normal.

"I bet you're pleased we didn't let you wimp out of this now, right?" Trent asked, looking over at his best friend with a huge grin on his face.

"Have I ever told you you're my best friend?" Thad replied, his face practically mirroring Trent's. Trent grinned even wider, not that Thad thought it was possible. He glanced over Trent's shoulder and saw Rachel talking with Tina, and started to head over to her again.

"Thad!" Thad turned in mid-step and just about recognised his sisters before they leapt onto him.

"You made up with Rachel!" Jenny exclaimed, practically jumping around in excitement.

"How are you two even here? Shouldn't you be at school?" Thad questioned, annoyed that he couldn't get to Rachel.

"Probably, but Mom pulled us out to watch you perform!" Dani replied, before bounding over to Rachel and dragging her away from Tina. "Besides, Mom wants to invite Rachel over for dinner. She's made more vegan food, so you don't really have a choice in the matter, Rach."

Rachel smiled at Dani, before reaching over and linking her hand with Thad's. "I'd love to come for dinner. Where's your dad?"

Somehow, Rachel missed the change in demeanour between the three Harwood siblings. After an awkward pause, Jenny replied, "he's away on a business trip." Not wanting to say more, the twins left Rachel and Thad to gather their belongings, and hurried away. Thad led Rachel off the stage and into the green room, quickly grabbing his jacket and bidding goodbye to his fellow Warblers. Rachel did the same, and they were soon ready to leave and meet up with Thad's family. Unfortunately, a tall figure insisted on blocking their exit.

"Hey, Rachel!" Finn exclaimed, purposely ignoring Thad, "we're having a celebratory party at Puck's, you know, to celebrate our _win_." Thad ignored the emphasis Finn put on the final part of the sentence and squeezed Rachel's hand in reassurance. She quickly cast a glance at her boyfriend before turning back to Finn, a smile forced upon her face.

"I'm sorry Finn, but I already have plans with Thad and his family. Now if you'll excuse me, we have to get going." Rachel made to move around Finn, but he continued to block the exit.

"Rach, c'mon." Finn whispered, trying his hardest to be the irresistible guy he'd been at the beginning of the year. Rachel had loved it then, so why didn't she love it now? He just couldn't understand, but maybe she was playing hard to get with him. Girls did that sometimes. "You're really going to ditch us for him? We've been there for you all along, where's he been?"

Anger flared up inside Thad, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Rachel beat him to it.

"Actually, Finn, I'm not ditching you all to spend time with my boyfriend. No-one else is complaining, in fact, they all seem to be pretty happy for me. So if you'd just move out of the way, that would be wonderful."

Finn opened his mouth to protest, but it was Puck that spoke first.

"Hudson, just leave it. We're all happy for Berry, as she said."

Dumbfounded, Finn finally moved just enough for Rachel and Thad to slip around him and head towards the parking lot of the building.

"I'm so, so sorry, Thad. Finn's such an idiot, why haven't I realised before?" Rachel moaned, clamping a hand to her forehead. Instead of replying, Thad just pushed Rachel up against the wall and crashed his lips against hers. The kiss was frantic, and more passionate than ones they'd ever shared before. Thad's hands clamped against Rachel's waist, and hers went around his neck and up into his hair. He began trailing soft kisses up and down her neck, not daring to put any pressure into it incase he left a hickey in his wake. His lips found hers again, and she greedily welcomed the kiss once more. Eventually, when the need to breathe became too much for either of the pair to cope with, they broke apart, both of them panting lightly. Thad glanced around, pretty confident that no-one had seen them, but at the same time, not really caring if anyone did. He stepped back and allowed Rachel to straighten herself up. She smiled up at him, and a voice cut through the air.

"Wanky!"Rachel groaned out loud, and started dragging Thad out of the building before he could start asking questions about Santana's vocabulary.


	14. Chapter 14

_I'm not a huge fan of this chapter, but it really had me stumped. I had no clue what to do with it, but it is kind of important to the story. Still, I hope you enjoy it! _

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><p>"I'm so pleased you're joining us for dinner, Rachel!" Sharon exclaimed as a slightly rumpled Thad and Rachel climbed into her car. "Thad has been so quiet about you recently, but I'm sure that's because you were just focusing on Regionals! Your songs were fantastic dear, who were they by originally?"<p>

"Um, they were our own original songs," Rachel replied, slightly bewildered by Sharon's chattiness.

"Your own?" Sharon repeated, slowly turning around in her seat to face Rachel. Thad reached over and squeezed her hand for support, wishing he had forewarned Rachel about his mother. To say she was passionate about music would be like saying that Rachel simply hoped to get into NYADA. Thad often found himself wondering how someone like his mother could marry someone like his father, a person who believed that music was only really good for quiet background noise. If Ed Harwood had his way, all three of his children would not have joined their school choir and focused more on their studies. It had been their mother who had convinced him that it would have no effect on their schoolwork, just like it had been their mother who had pushed for the music room to be built in their house.

"So creative! And your vocals were so beautiful dear; your voice is just made for Broadway!" Sharon eventually turned around in her seat and began driving towards the Harwood's home. Thad had been hoping he would be able to steal Rachel away for an hour or so in order for them to continue where they had left off in the hallway. Unfortunately for him, his mother and sisters had other plans. Thad should have seen it coming, to be perfectly fair. He'd had a narrow escape when he first introduced Rachel to his family.

"Family pictures!" the twins announced, guiding Rachel into a seat on the sofa. Thad collapsed onto an armchair, cursing his mother's love for documenting what seemed to be every waking moment of his younger years. Still, it could have been worse. The twins could have gotten out the family movies.

"You were such a cute baby!" Rachel cooed, staring at the photo album in front of her. Jenny and Dani giggled and continuing flicking through the pages, making sure they stopped at all of Thad's embarrassing photos. Sensing he wasn't going to be missed any time soon, Thad slipped out of the room and headed upstairs to get changed out of his school uniform. Even on another floor, he could hear the three girls giggling and shrieking, and even though it was at his expense, he still smiled. He was lucky to have a girl like Rachel, someone who his sisters took to immediately. And he was stupid for almost letting her go. He met his mother in the hallway as she emerged out of the master room his parents shared. She had some clothes in his hands, a mixture of Jenny, Dani and his mother's, from what Thad could tell.

"I thought Rachel might want to change," she explained, "I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable when we're all dressed like slobs."

Thad nodded, and went to walk down the stairs when his mother called him back to her.

"She's precious, Thad. Don't ever lose her, if you can help it."

Rachel loved how comfortable she felt around Thad's family. The Harwoods (minus Ed) and herself were all sat in sweat pants and hoodies, eating pizza (vegan for Rachel) and swapping interesting stories with them. Rachel had learnt more about their passion for music, and loved how knowledgeable Sharon was on the topic. Sharon also seemed to be one of the only adults, minus her dads, who didn't feel that NYADA was an unreachable goal for her. Most adults were like Ed, who only gave a reply they thought she wanted to hear. It wasn't difficult for her to work out that Ed wasn't a fan of music, namely because all the stories that had been swapped barely featured him at all.

"Can we go up to the music room? Please?" Dani begged. "We can all perform in there."

"I'm sure Rachel doesn't want to do that," Sharon began, before Thad cut her off.

"Rachel never turns down an opportunity to perform," he smiled, squeezing Rachel slightly. That was all the encouragement Dani and Jenny needed, they shot off into the room, with Sharon following them. Rachel went to follow them but was pulled back by Thad, who pressed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I'm really sorry," Thad whispered, his forehead touching Rachel's. "I should have never spoken to you like that. You didn't do anything wrong, but I acted like you'd committed the biggest crime in the world. I'm such an ass. I even threw a book at Nick."

"You did what?" Rachel questioned, before bursting into a fit of giggles. That would explain the limp Kurt had mentioned when he filled Rachel in on the Warbler business she had been missing out on. Rachel's head filled with hilarious images of textbooks flying about Thad's dorm room, all aimed at Nick, which just made her laugh even harder.

"I'm trying to be serious!" Thad protested, before wrapping his arms around Rachel's waist and kissing her.

"Gross." Jenny announced, walking into the room. "We're all waiting for you."

Thad silently groaned, cursing his bad luck and his sister's awful timing.


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: I don't think this chapter really has much of a point, but I had fun writing it! I hope you enjoy :)_

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><p>"I have a huge favour to ask," Tina blurted out at lunchtime, slamming her tray onto the table she and Rachel usually shared before collapsing onto her seat. The pair had become incredibly close these past few weeks, and it was rare for them to be separated outside of lesson time during the school hours.<p>

"Okay," Rachel replied, carefully setting down her food and staring expectantly at her friend.

"You know Petersons do midnight bowling on a Friday for school kids? Well, Mike and I want to go this week, but my parents have said there's no way I can go alone with him. They seem to think we'll be doing more than just bowling. So I was wondering if maybe you and Thad wanted to join us as well?" Tina questioned.

"That sounds like it would be fun!" Rachel enthused, retrieving her cell from her bag so she could text Thad the idea. "I'm sure Thad would love to go."

"Maybe I should invite Kurt and Mercedes too," Tina mused, "my parents would probably feel a lot happier if they knew a group of us was going."

"Well, if you do," Rachel replied, picking up her lunch once more, "you should invite Blaine and Sam along as well."

"Sam?" Tina questioned, confused. Rachel quickly swallowed the bite she was chewing, and glanced over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't anywhere near the pair.

"You must have seen the way he looks at her!" Rachel exclaimed, "it's quite adorable." Rachel's cell buzzed, and she quickly opened up the message, smiling when she saw it was from Thad.

"Thad says he's already excited to go," Rachel informed Tina, before throwing her cell bag into her school bag. The pair continued eating in a comfortable silence, observing their peers.

"So how did everything go with Thad after Regionals? We haven't really had time to catch up about it." Tina pushed her tray away from her, grabbing Rachel's rubbish and dumping it atop the empty plastic.

"It was fine. I kind of expected it to be a little awkward, but it wasn't. It was like we'd never argued, which was nice. He kept apologising to me too, even though I told him he had nothing to be sorry about, and that I was in the wrong just as much as he was. I think he wanted us to have a little time alone too, but his sisters put a stop to that straight away." Rachel blushed as Tina started giggling. "I don't mean that kind of alone time!"

"Whatever." Tina replied, still giggling at Rachel. "I bet you wouldn't have said no to it though." Tina's giggling turned into full-on cackling as Rachel blushed even brighter than a tomato.

Friday night soon came around, and Rachel found herself in the middle of a heated bowling battle. Mercedes had decided on calling the two groups Divas and Dorks, the former because of their love of performing, and the latter for their love of comic books. It was odd seeing Blaine out of his Dalton uniform, but thought that he fitted in well with the Dorks, thanks to the cute little bowtie he was wearing. Rachel was having more fun than she expected to, laughing at herself as she got yet another gutter ball.

"You really do suck at bowling," Kurt sighed as Rachel plopped down onto the seat next to him.

"I know," Rachel shrugged, "but you can't be good at everything." Cheers echoed around them as Sam got yet another strike for the Dorks, sealing their victory.

"Remind me to never invite Sam bowling again," Tina joked as they handed over their shoes.

"I didn't think he'd be that good," Rachel commented.

"Or that we'd be that bad," Mercedes replied. "I mean, bowling isn't even that difficult."

"Perhaps our skills just lay in other areas," Kurt mused, glad to be rid of the unfashionable bowling shoes.

"Milkshakes for the winner!" Blaine and Thad chorused, dragging Sam out of the bowling alley, with Mike following closely behind. The Divas watched as the Dorks piled into Blaine's car and drove out of the parking lot a whole lot faster than they probably should have. Shaking their heads, they hurried out of the bowling alley towards Rachel's car, hoping that they had headed for the McDonalds drive-thru that was close by. Rachel left the parking lot at a far more sensible speed than Blaine. The four found themselves singing along to the mix cd Rachel had on in her car at the top of their voices as they drove the empty Lima streets.

"Did Thad make that cd for you?" Kurt questioned as Rachel turned into the parking lot. As the four had suspected, Blaine's car sat there, in what had to be the only area of the parking lot without any lighting.

"Yeah, he refused to listen to any more songs from musicals. He just doesn't know what he's missing," Rachel replied, pulling into a space next to Blaine's car. There appeared to be little to no movement coming from their car. Confused, the four decided to investigate the matter further, although none of them were particularly thrilled at the idea of leaving the safety of Rachel's car. Mercedes and Kurt clutched hands as they advanced towards Blaine's vehicle, with Tina close to them. Rachel was a little braver, although she couldn't ignore the shivers of fear running up and down her spine, and crept out by herself, her hand reaching out to open the door closest to her. Just as she touched the cool metal, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground, shaking with laughter as she screamed and thrashed around. She was quickly dropped onto the ground, a lot closer to her car than before, and a pair of warm lips grazed against her ear.

"Didn't you daddies tell you it's dangerous to head towards an abandoned car in the dark?" Thad whispered, reaching around to kiss Rachel on the cheek.

"You are such an ass!" Rachel replied, thumping Thad on the chest. Her pouting soon gave way to laughter, especially when she looked and saw her friends' amused faces staring back at her.

Kurt grinned as he watched his friend laugh at herself. If this had happened to her a year ago, she would never have reacted in this way. She'd have probably cried, or made a huge fuss out of the matter. The Rachel in front of him was a brand new Rachel, and that was in part, thanks to Thad.

"Come on, lovebirds. We need to start heading back," Blaine commented, glancing at the time on his cell.

"Yeah, my parents will no doubt we waiting up for me right now," Tina commented. The group quickly bid their goodbyes to one another and piled into Blaine and Rachel's cars, with Thad nearly knocking himself out on an open car door so he could open Rachel's door for her. The journey in Rachel's car was filled with enthusiastic comments over Thad and Mike's bowling skills, obviously made by the boys themselves. Soon enough, Thad and Rachel found themselves alone in her car. Thad started shuffling nervously, and started bouncing his right knee up and down, something he only did when he was anxious.

"It's going to be fine, Thad. My dads are fine with you staying over, so long as you stay in the guest bedroom for an appropriate amount of time," Rachel remarked, slowly pulling into her drive. The lights were all off in her house, bar the porch light, indicating her dads had gone to bed, obviously trusting the teens to comply with their wishes.

"This is a big deal though. I mean, I've never stayed round my girlfriend's house before. I know we're not actually going to do anything but, still. This is a big deal," Thad repeated, his voice hushed as they entered Rachel's house. Rachel smiled and led Thad up the stairs. They stood outside Thad's room for the night, Rachel pushing up on her tiptoes to kiss Thad goodnight properly. He lost nearly all self-control when she pushed her body against his, and his mind began to wander with thoughts about everything he would do to Rachel if he could at this very moment. Just as their kiss was getting really heated up, and Thad was close to picking Rachel up and carrying her over to his bed so they could continue this a little further, Rachel pulled away from him, a flirtatious smile on her lips.

"Goodnight Thad," she whispered, quickly retreating into her room. Thad opened his door and collapsed onto his bed, groaning into his pillow. Rachel Berry would be the death of him.


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: What's this, an update?! I know I've been AWOL for a long time, and I'm sorry about that. Thank you to everyone who's still continued to stumble across this story and read it, it means a lot more to me than you could imagine! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm aiming on having the next one out soon!_

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><p>"Thank you very much. You've been incredibly helpful, have a great day!" Trent announced, ending the call on his cell and crossing off the box next to 'restaurant reservation' on Thad's whiteboard.<p>

"Operation Junior Prom is a little excessive, is it not?" Blaine queried, popping his head through Trent and Thad's open door.

"Don't say that to him," Trent begged, "he's so desperate to get this right for Rachel, especially now that creepy Jesse guy is back on the scene."

"Yeah, Kurt's told me all about him. What kind of a guy would arrange to have eggs tossed at his ex-girlfriend?" Blaine wondered aloud, before shaking his head. "I'm going to prom with Kurt."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Trent asked, knowing all about his friend's past with school dances.

"Nothing bad can happen. Besides, Kurt asked me to go, and I'll do anything to make him happy. Where even is Thad?"

"I'm here!" Thad announced, shoving Blaine fully into the room in his haste to get to his desk. "I've just collected the corsage. You can tick that off the list."

Trent saluted his best friend's back before turning back to the whiteboard and ticking 'corsage collection' off the list.

"Have you got your suit yet?" Blaine asked Thad, who replied with a brisk nod, opening his wardrobe to show Blaine. "She's really excited, you know."

"I know." Thad replied, glancing toward Blaine, "and that's why I'm determined to make it the most special night I can for her. She deserves it."

"Don't worry about Jesse," Blaine announced, purposely ignoring the looks Trent was giving him, trying to warn Blaine that he was about to enter into dangerous territory with Thad. "Rachel wants nothing more to do with him. He destroyed her Thad. He took her to a place far lower than she expected to be possible. And look at her now, look at the person she has become, thanks in part to you. There's no way in the world that Jesse St. James will ever steal Rachel away from you. I won't allow it. Kurt won't allow it. And we both know that Trent and Tina will not allow it."

"Thanks man," Thad replied, walking over to Blaine and pulling him into a brief hug.

"That dress is perfect for you Rachel, you're going to look stunning!" Kurt exclaimed as Rachel emerged from the changing room in a pale pink, strapless knee-length dress.

"Do you like it?" Rachel questioned, spinning around and looking over her shoulder in a poor attempt to look at her entire outfit at once.

"Wait, was that Rachel Berry sounding unsure of herself? Quick, someone call the press!" Kurt called, laughing and ducking as Rachel swatted at him. "Just go pay for the damn dress already. You won't find another one more perfect than that, I promise." Rachel nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer, and hurried to get changed so she could purchase the dress.

"Okay, so that's my outfit sorted, Tina's helping me with my hair and make-up, and I think Thad's doing everything else. Have I missed anything?" Rachel queried, scrolling through the note she had created on her cell as Kurt and herself headed out of the mall and towards her car.

"Nope. You're done. I'm done. We just need to wait for prom now." Kurt replied. "Have you spoken to Jesse again?"

"No. And I don't plan on it either. He's awful, Kurt. He's an awful person who I don't want to waste my time on."

Kurt nodded in understanding, reaching over and squeezing his friend's hand in reassurance. "How about we go get coffee?"

Two days later, Thad was staring at himself in the mirror, positive he could see himself turning greener with each passing second.

"Thad, if you don't hurry up, you're going to be late in picking Rachel up, and you'll miss your reservations!" Trent announced, bursting into the dorm.

"I can't do this, Trent." Thad announced, turning to look at his best friend.

"Are you being serious?" Trent replied, looking at Thad in horror, unsure of the best course of action. He hurried back into the hallway and began bellowing names at random until someone, _anyone, _came to his rescue.

"What's up?" Nick questioned, poking his head out of his door.

"It's Thad, he's saying he can't go through with prom." Trent had barely finished his sentence before Nick was hurrying into the dorm room, pulling Thad away from the mirror.

"Dude, don't give me that crap." Thad opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it after seeing the look on Nick's face. "You're going. Everything is going to be fine. Rachel is expecting the best night of her life tonight, and you would be one crappy boyfriend if you went and ruined that, wouldn't you? Yes, you know I'm right. Now go and get Rachel and enjoy a prom with actual females in the room for all of us, alright?"

Thad mock-saluted Nick, took a deep breath and glanced at himself in the mirror one last time before grabbing Rachel's corsage and hurrying out of the dorm room.

"He stresses too much," Nick announced to Trent as they watched Thad leave Dalton, receiving several pats on the back and handshakes along the way. Trent glanced back at the 'Operation Junior Prom' board before replying.

"What do you think he'll be like next year?!"


End file.
